


When a door closes...

by SuperEllen



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bokuroo is endgame, COWT10, Hurt Bokuto, M/M, Not exactly what I thought I was going to write but whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:27:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22547026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperEllen/pseuds/SuperEllen
Summary: Bokuto thought everything was perfect, until the day he got dumped. Will someone else help him get back on his feet?
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 4
Kudos: 84
Collections: COWT - Clash Of the Writing Titans/Chronicles Of Words and Trials





	When a door closes...

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, English is not my first language, so please bear with me.  
> Second, there isn't enough Bokuroo in this world, so I had to write some. I apologize for butchering my first approach to writing Bokuroo.  
> Last but not least, this is written based on the prompt of the following quote: _"Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together. Every story has an end, but in life every end is just a new beginning."_

Training camp was a real bitch. There was no other way to say it, Kuroo thought. And it wasn't because practice was too difficult, that sure wasn't what made him think that. The problem was another: his personal feelings, that were interfering with the practice his team was supposed to get during training camp. It was bad, because his team was given the opportunity to face four fearsome opponents, and as captain he should have tried his best to get the most out of that situation. Well, maybe there were three fearsome opponents, because Karasuno still seemed to have been thrown into something a little too big without a safety net below, even though they were slowly getting better every set they played.

In that precise moment, Kuroo couldn't concentrate on the set he was playing. Nekoma was playing Fukurodani, meaning that they were at a disadvantage to begin with. Fukurodani, after all, was the strongest among the teams at training camp, and winning a set against them was incredibly difficult per se. Bokuto, after all, was one of the top five aces in all of Japan. Sure, Kuroo was usually able to stuff a few of Bokuto's spikes, but in order to be able to do that he needed to keep his head in the game. Something that wasn't easy to do, considering that he was the first one to get distracted over little things at the moment.

His main problem was Bokuto. Not his spikes, not his serves. The problem was the flexing of his muscles. The way his strong thighs hardened while he was preparing to kick off the floor, the way his back arched at the top of the jump, the way his right arm moved to spike the ball with all of his strength. Kuroo couldn't stop staring at Bokuto, the same way he'd done so many times since their first meeting during their first training camp in their first year of high school.

Bokuto jumped to spike, and Kuroo jumped as well to block him, but Fukurodani's captain was able to avoid him and he scored, the ball bouncing right in front of Yaku, who couldn't get to it on time. Bokuto celebrated the point he scored by jumping around his side of the court, waving his arms in the air and yelling like a child. Kuroo couldn't help but smile with affection at the sight of that. After all, Bokuto was the kind of person that couldn't be ignored. Nobody, however, was looking at Fukurodani's number 4 the same way Nekoma's captain was. That was the reason why Kuroo was the only one to notice that, after jumping up and down a little, Bokuto turned towards Akaashi and thanked him for the perfect set. He didn't use any words, just his eyes, yet that look conveyed the deepest love possible. And when Kuroo gazed at Akaashi, he saw that the setter seemed a little embarrassed, but he was pretty much staring back the same way.

Kuroo sighed. His entire first year, he would have loved to get Bokuto's attention. Sure, they'd become good friends immediately, but it wasn't enough for Nekoma's middle blocker, because he really wanted more. He wanted to be noticed in a different way. And then, when they were in their second year, _he_ showed up. That first year setter, Akaashi. Nobody was paying as much attention to Bokuto as he was, so he was the only one who noticed how much Bokuto was always seeking the other's approval and attention. It was enough to make Kuroo feel sick. However, a year later, he was well aware of the fact that the two of them were dating. Considering how much he was focused on every detail of what Bokuto was doing, he would have noticed even if Fukurodani's captain hadn't told him all about it himself.

Kuroo hated all of it. The fact that those two were happily together, and the fact that Bokuto couldn't wait to tell him every time their relationship took a good turn. It was like torture. But listening to all those ramblings about Akaashi was the only way he had to keep being close to Bokuto, so he had to endure.

Their relationship, after all, looked perfect in Kuroo's eyes. As much as he disliked it, they seemed to have a very good chemistry, and Akaashi was patient enough to bear with Bokuto's antics. He would have never been able to fit in such a perfect picture, at least not as more than just a friend. So he couldn't do anything more than just keep smiling, and be the friend that Bokuto deserved.

***

Bokuto's life was perfect, or at least so he thought. He wasn't exactly popular at school, but he was well known for his talent on the volleyball court. He was the captain and the ace of one of the strongest and most feared high school teams in all of Japan. He was lucky enough to have a great setter, who always made sure to set the ball right where he needed it to score. He had one of the best friends in the world, even though on the court their schools were rivals. And then he was in love with the perfect guy, and that guy loved him back.

Akaashi wasn't only his setter. He was the sun that brought light in Bokuto's life. After meeting him, Bokuto couldn't imagine himself without him anymore. How had he even been able to live, up to that moment? When he was younger, he'd often made fun of those fools in love that he could see all around. Love was for wussies, volleyball was way better! Or at least so he thought, until he was almost struck by lightning the moment his eyes met Akaashi's for the first time. It was love at first sight, and Bokuto didn't know what to do at first. It took him months of courting, but in the end he was able to win Akaashi's heart. Maybe he wore Akaashi down until he couldn't do anything other than accept. After all, in the beginning the setter didn't even seem that interested in guys. But Bokuto was too obsessed to notice, and when they finally got together, he didn't think he would have ever had to worry.

What Bokuto didn't understand was that being with him was difficult. He could only think about two things: sex and volleyball. Everything else didn't matter at all. He was clingy and needy, and he couldn't understand why Akaashi needed to study so much. Bokuto was also the kind of person to do crazy stuff completely at random, meaning that sometimes he ended up getting Akaashi in trouble for absolutely no reason. Every time that happened, they always ended up fighting, but in the end Akaashi forgave him every time.

So in Bokuto's eyes their relationship was sailing, and there was nothing that could have been going wrong. That was, however, just his point of view. He was maybe a little too dense for his own good, so he never really tried to consider Akaashi's feelings as well. He just assumed that, if everything was perfect for him, his boyfriend was obviously feeling the same way. He couldn't even imagine a scenario in which Akaashi couldn't take it anymore. They were great together, after all. In addition to that, Bokuto considered himself a great catch, so there was no way that someone as intelligent as Akaashi would have ever wanted to end things with him.

That was why, when his boyfriend told him with a serious voice that they needed to talk about their relationship, Bokuto never imagined that Akaashi was going to say something negative.

But he did. He told Bokuto that he wanted to end things between them, that it was for their own good, and Bokuto couldn't understand. How could something like that be for their own good? For _his_ own good? Akaashi was his everything, how could he function again without him?

"I care about you, Bokuto-san. I would love for us to remain friends. For the good of the team as well" Akaashi also said, and Bokuto couldn't believe what he was hearing. He didn't want to remain friends, he wanted the two of them to be together forever!

Bokuto tried, and tried again, for days, to convince Akaashi to stay with him. After all, how could he believe that the love of his life was really dumping him? He quickly became obsessed, and that started to piss Akaashi off. And the rest of the team was starting to notice his strange behavior as well. Even though they had kept their relationship a secret from the rest of Fukurodani the entire time, now everyone was figuring out that Bokuto had the hots for his setter. Konoha even tried to make fun of him, at the end of a practice, for hitting on the unattainable Akaashi. And Bokuto was quickly going crazy, because nobody knew that Akaashi returned his feelings, he wasn't really barking at the wrong tree, Akaashi wanted him too! So why, _why_ , was he acting like Bokuto was such a bother? Why was he acting like he did when the two of them were just friends, before they even got together? Akaashi was patient, he kept up with his mood swings on the court, but he didn't want to hear a word about anything else from him.

Even though Akaashi had been clear regarding the fact that they were over, Bokuto still refused to believe it. He started acting as if Akaashi had been joking, because in his eyes it could have only been a joke and nothing more. He tried to woo the setter all over again, all the while still acting as if they were a couple. He was in denial, and there was nothing that could have made him think anything different.

Until one day, at school, when he saw Akaashi kissing a girl behind the gymnasium before practice. That day the world crumbled to pieces on top of his head. That was the moment he realized that Akaashi had actually been serious about dumping him.

Dressed in his volleyball gear, Bokuto started running in the opposite direction. He ran away from school, ran out of the neighborhood. He didn't stop to catch his breath, he didn't even slow down long enough to see where he was going. He ended up at the train station, and without even thinking about what he was doing, he jumped on the first train to the suburban area. The entire train ride, he stood in a corner, looking out of the window and trying not to cry. Akaashi really didn't want him anymore, and it was too much to bear.

When the train stopped, Bokuto sprinted out as fast as he could. He knew where he was going now. Sure, he usually took a bus to and from the train station the other times he went there, but this time was an emergency, and he needed to run in order to clear his head, or at least try to. He stopped in front of a house he knew too well; he'd been there countless times before, to play videogames with his friend and talk about volleyball. To talk about Akaashi as well, but he preferred not to think about that at the moment.

Bokuto was drenched in sweat and out of breath. His eyes were wet, as he was still crying silently. When he rang the bell, for a moment he thought that probably he wasn't going to make a good impression on whoever was going to answer. Was it even right to bother his friend at a time like that? He was well aware that Kuroo needed to study a lot in order to enter the university of his choice. Was he going to bother his friend by making him listen to him cry? Was Kuroo even at home?

Kuroo's grandmother answered the door, and she covered her mouth with one hand in worry when she saw him looking like that. She greeted him and invited him in. She even asked him what was wrong, but he wasn't sure he could produce even a few words in an order that made any sense. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out, so he just shook his head. She didn't ask anything else, she just nodded in silence. "Must be about girls, then" she said after, looking like she'd seen something like that a million times before. Bokuto didn't dare to contradict her.

While he was trying to take off his shoes, the old woman yelled "Tetsu-chan! You friend Koutarou is here!"

***

Kuroo, who was currently studying, ran out of his bedroom so fast that he almost crashed against the wall when he heard that Bokuto was there. His heart was pounding in his chest while he ran down the stairs. When he reached the living room, however, he saw Bokuto standing next to his grandmother, and his heart felt like it stopped completely. He looked miserable. He was wearing his entire volleyball gear, knee pads included, and he looked like he'd run all the way there from school - which was crazy, even for Bokuto.

"Bokuto? Are you okay?" Kuroo asked, worried about his friend. Bokuto didn't reply, he just sprinted towards him, tossing himself at Kuroo, hugging him with so much emphasis that both of them almost fell to the ground. Kuroo was at a loss for words, and he didn't know how to react at all. Slowly, when he heard Bokuto start sobbing against his neck, he raised both arms and tried to hug him back.

From that awkward position, Kuroo tried to look at his grandmother, as if silently asking her what was happening. She smiled at him in return. "Well, I'll leave you boys to your things" she said, and then she started walking away to the kitchen, mumbling something that sounded a lot like "Yes, definitely girls problems."

Kuroo blinked a couple of times, unsure if he'd heard correctly, but when they were alone he finally tried to relax a little. He wrapped Bokuto a little better with both arms, starting to caress his back in order to make him calm down. He also leaned his head against Bokuto's, not caring even a little bit about the fact that his friend was drenched in sweat while he was wearing his regular clothes. He inhaled deeply, taking in the strong smell of sweat and something else that was definitely Bokuto.

Feeling Bokuto's muscles against his body, Kuroo was going crazy. But it wasn't the time to think about that. Bokuto was crying, meaning that something was definitely wrong, so Kuroo couldn't be selfish, he needed to do something to help his friend.  
"Bo? What happened?" Kuroo tried to ask, his words nothing more than a whisper.

"Akaashi dumped me. For a girl" Bokuto replied, his voice so low that Kuroo barely heard him. He barely understood him as well, since he was talking with his face still pressed against Kuroo's neck.

Kuroo wasn't a bad person, and he wasn't a bad friend either. He wanted Bokuto to be happy, yet he couldn't stop from feeling a weight lift off his chest when he heard that Bokuto and Akaashi were over. For months now he'd heard his friend talk about the setter all the time, about how great they were together, how in love they were. Kuroo undoubtedly envied Akaashi, but always kept silent about his own feelings, only repeating to Bokuto that he was happy for them. But now that the relationship he dreaded had ended? Now Kuroo was just happy. Was he too selfish because of that?

Kuroo spent most of the afternoon trying to make Bokuto calm down. When he finally stopped crying, Kuroo dragged him to the upstairs bathroom and pushed him inside with a towel and some of his clothes, telling him that he really needed to shower. When Bokuto finally came out, his hair down and wearing Kuroo's clothes, Kuroo's heart started jumping around his chest. They were approximately the same height, but Bokuto was more muscular, so Kuroo's clothes fit him maybe a little too tight. Not what Kuroo needed to think about at the moment, to be honest.

Now that Bokuto was clean and didn't stink anymore, they sat down on Kuroo's bed, and Bokuto finally told his friend everything that happened. He talked about Akaashi telling him that they were over, that they would have worked better as friends. He told Kuroo about not believing him at first, and trying again to get back together, until he finally saw Akaashi kiss a girl, making him run away from school before volleyball practice could even begin. Kuroo nodded in silence the entire time, trying to find the words to comfort his friend.

"Kuroo" Bokuto then said, turning around to face his friend "What's wrong with me? Why can't people just love me?" he asked. He looked serious, way more than he usually was.

Kuroo wasn't sure about how to reply. He wanted to make Bokuto understand that nothing was wrong with him, but at the same time he didn't want to confess his feelings, or even bring Bokuto to suspect about them. He ended up wrapping an arm around Bokuto's shoulders, a friendly gesture, and from that position he smiled. "There's nothing wrong with you. Everyone loves you" he said, trying his best to cheer Bokuto up.

Bokuto shook his head, gently pushing Kuroo's comforting touch away. "No, not the way I want. I want to find someone who thinks I make their world spin. You know, like someone who _truly_ loves me" Bokuto explained.

Kuroo chewed on his lower lip, trying to find the right words to use in reply. "As I said, people love you" he finally said, while his heart started beating a little faster.

"Not like that!" Bokuto complained.

"Yes, exactly like that" Kuroo replied, his heart speeding like a train.

Bokuto's confused expression was incredibly cute. "What do you mean by that? How could you know for sure?"

Sometimes, Bokuto could really be even denser than usual. At that point, there was nothing else that Kuroo could do but confess, even if he really didn't want to.

" _I_ love you" he said, staring at the floor because he couldn't bear to look at Bokuto. "What?" was the confused question that met his words, pushing Kuroo to keep talking. "I've been in love with you since the first training camp in our first year" he continued, and once again his words were met with an incredulous "What?"

Kuroo didn't know how to interpret that tone. Was Bokuto just surprised, or plain disgusted? In any case, he needed to make things clear. "Don't worry, I don't want anything from you. I made my peace with that a long time ago. I just wanted to let you know that there is someone who really loves you, so you don't need to worry about not being loved at all" Kuroo explained, and only after he finished talking he turned to face his friend. He was worried to see horror on Bokuto's face, but what he wasn't expecting at all was to see rage.

"How could you?" Bokuto yelled, then he grabbed the front of Kuroo's shirt with both hands and pushed the other boy down. Kuroo fell with his back on the bed, Bokuto on top of him who was still shoving him against the mattress. "What the hell, Kuroo? Why? I thought we were friends!" Bokuto kept yelling.

Kuroo didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He was a complete idiot. He'd probably just ruined their friendship for good. That was why he would have never expected the next words that came out of Bokuto's mouth. "Why did you wait years to tell me?"

Now it was Kuroo's turn to ask "What?" He stared at Bokuto in shock, and only at that point he realized that his friend was crying again.

Bokuto collapsed on top of him, hiding his face in Kuroo's neck one again. "Damn you! You should have told me! You ruined everything! It's all your fault!" Bokuto kept repeating, his tears falling directly on Kuroo's skin and his fists clenched around Kuroo's shirt.

Lying on the bed in that awkward position, Kuroo didn't know what to think anymore. What the hell was Bokuto saying? What was he even accusing him of? With a sigh, he grabbed Bokuto's face with both hands and lifted it so that he could look his friend in the eye. "You're not making any sense. What's my fault?" he inquired.

At that point, Kuroo could expect pretty much anything in reply. "That Akaashi broke my heart!" Well, maybe except that one. He looked at Bokuto with confusion, and the explanation he was seeking arrived. "He would have never been able to break my heart, if I'd been with you from the beginning!"

After saying those words, Bokuto pushed away from Kuroo, and he sat again on the bed, arms crossed on his chest and back turned to his friend. Slowly, almost feeling dizzy because of that revelation, Kuroo sat up as well, returning to his position beside his friend.

"Bo?" he tried to ask, raising a hand to put it on his friend's shoulder. Before he could manage to make contact, however, Bokuto turned towards him with a very quick movement, grabbed Kuroo's face with both hands and kissed him. Definitely not the reaction he was expecting.

"You taste good" Bokuto said the moment they parted; he was smiling again. Kuroo really couldn't understand what was going on with the other, but part of him wasn't sure he wanted to know. Was Bokuto using him as a rebound? He wasn't sure he could survive that! Those thoughts, however, weren't enough to keep him from blushing when he heard Bokuto's comment.

He wanted to say something, anything, but before he could open his mouth and find the words, Bokuto was on his feet, hands against his hips, staring at Kuroo. "Now, if this is our first date, what should we do?" he asked.

Kuroo blinked a couple of times. Their first date? What the hell had just happened exactly? Did Bokuto really want the two of them to try dating? He was too afraid that Bokuto didn't really want him, that he was just upset because he lost Akaashi, but he couldn't stop that feeling of hope that was starting to grow inside his heart.

"Whatever you want" he ended up replying to Bokuto's question. Hearing those words, Bokuto grinned at him and extended his right hand to him.

"Then let's go throw stuff at Kenma's window! It should be fun!" Bokuto suggested, and Kuroo just laughed at that. Kenma was going to hate them for that! But it was Bokuto's idea of a first date, so that was fine with him. Therefore, Kuroo grabbed Bokuto's hand and let the other help him get up. They were both laughing when they ran down the stairs and out of the house.

***

That first date with Kuroo had been amazing. They'd thrown a few pebbles, a ping-pong ball, a shoe and a chewed bubblegum at Kenma's window; that last one even got stuck against the glass, making Kenma yell at the two of them. They had a lot of fun, even when Nekoma's setter threw Kuroo's shoe back at them and hit Bokuto right in the back of the head.

Akaashi would have never agreed to do that kind of stuff on a date. On the contrary, he would have scolded him for even thinking about doing stuff like than on a regular day. Kuroo, on the other hand, was the perfect person to do crazy stuff with, because he followed him without question. He also suggested even crazier stuff, like what they did on their second date, when Kuroo wanted to do a snowball fight in the middle of summer, so they bought a lot of ice-cream and spent half the afternoon throwing it at each other at the park.

Being with Kuroo felt natural. Easy. To the point that Bokuto really couldn't think of a reason why it hadn't occurred to him earlier. Then, after a few dates, they had sex for the first time, and that was amazing too. Kuroo agreed with him that it was cool to try doing it in the most random places, and a couple of times they almost got busted while doing it in public areas.

Losing Akaashi still hurt a little, but things were way better now. Kuroo really understood him, and he never tried to make him change his behavior. He was having more fun with him than he'd ever had with Akaashi. Who knew, maybe they were supposed to break up all along, so that he could find something better, something more... fitting. After all, Kuroo had always been that one friend that liked all the same stuff he liked, so it wasn't difficult to fall for him. Just a couple of months after they first started dating, and Bokuto was already in love. So in love that he didn't have any problems remaining friends with Akaashi, because the other didn't mean anything to him anymore, romantically speaking.

That year, when Fukurodani won Nationals, Bokuto only spent a few minutes celebrating with his team. Then he ran out of the court, to where he saw Kuroo looking at him with pride, he grabbed his boyfriend's face and kissed him in front of everyone. They'd never talked about making their relationship public. With Akaashi, the setter had always been the one who wanted to keep the two of them a secret, almost as if he was ashamed of being with Bokuto. But things with Kuroo were different, so Bokuto hoped the other felt the same way as he did, and that he didn't care about everyone else finding out. His bold gesture paid off, because Kuroo lifted him off the ground and kissed him back with enthusiasm. Well, now everyone knew about them. Good, because in a way it was like marking the territory: people now knew that they couldn't dare to touch what was his.

Even after Nationals, after high school, the two of them kept making plans together. Thanks to Kuroo, now Bokuto was feeling so good that he almost forgot entirely about the previous heartbreak. Because it didn't matter how much he liked something, there was no reason that anything else could ever compare with what he had now. With who he had it with. Now Bokuto's life was really perfect.

At the end of the day, Bokuto learned that sometimes even the best of things could fall apart, but it was always for a good reason. For every door that closed, another one, a better one, opened. For every good thing that fell apart, a great one just fell together. Bokuto and Kuroo just fit perfectly together, like two pieces of the same puzzle. How could have Bokuto never seen that before? He cursed himself for being so blind, for wasting so much time on someone who couldn't give him what he needed. Blaming himself, however, was useless. Because now, what he thought was the end of his entire life became the beginning of something new. Something he could share with Kuroo from that moment on, and that could be more perfect than anything else.


End file.
